Issued by CnaG

Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu are the winners of the Cuach na Cloinne 2014 trophy. Following six regional competitions held across Scotland over the past month, Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu beat Condorrat Primary School in the national finals which were held in Inverness last week.

Cuach na Cloinne is a football competition for P4-7 pupils going through Gaelic medium education, and in this year’s competition, 44 teams from 24 schools took part. Regional competitions were held in Lewis, Barra, Skye, Inverness, Oban and Glasgow with the successful teams from these regional competitions qualifying for the national finals in Inverness.

Donald MacNeill, Ceannard of Comunn na Gàidhlig, which organises the competition said: “Cuach na Cloinne has built up a good reputation and is now firmly established in the school calendar, with children all looking forward to playing in it. We had a highly successful competition this year with up to 300 young people taking part in it. The quality of football was of a high standard but what is more important is that those taking part enjoy the experience and are provided with an opportunity to enjoy sport, make new friends and all this in their own language.”

The Cuach na Cloinne trophy was presented to the winners by Inverness City Provost Alex Graham, who is also a councillor on The Highland Council. Councillor Graham said: “Cuach na Cloinne is now an established national Gaelic event on the youth sporting Gaelic circuit. The whole tournament is held entirely in Gaelic, and it provides an excellent opportunity for young people to use their linguistic skills through extra-curricular activities.”

He continued: “The Highland Council is delighted to support the event which develops the young people’s Gaelic skills and also helps to create positive relationships across Scotland’s Gaelic schools. The level of participation was excellent and my best wishes to everybody who took part in the competition.”

Councillor John A Maciver, Chair of the Gaelic Plan Implementation Committee at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar said: “Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is delighted to support Cuach na Cloinne. It is vital that young people going through Gaelic medium education are provided with opportunities to use and to improve their Gaelic fluency in sports and music events outwith the classroom.”

He continued: “Only this week have we heard the wonderful news of a sportswoman from the Western Isles, who went through Gaelic medium education, being named in Team GB for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games – perhaps in years to come one of the players currently playing in Cuach na Cloinne may go on to represent Scotland at the World Cup!”

Cuach na Cloinne 2014 was funded by Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, and The Highland Council with support from LearnGaelic.net (http://www.learngaelic.net/) and organised by Comunn na Gàidhlig.